Captain America is not just a superhero or the Avengers’ on-again, off-again leader. He’s a symbol, both in Marvel’s comics and here in the real world, for all of the potential the US has to be an agent of justice and change in the larger world.

We recently spoke with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates about the politics (or lack thereof) in his new run and how he’s approaching the famous character.

Steve Rogers has been through hell. Marvel's Secret Empire event took the character to a dangerous place, one that spent the best part of a year muddying the public image of both one of comics' most beloved heroes and his publisher. This week, the Steve we knew is back, but his new comic isn't quite yet willing to address his recent history. Instead, it wants to concentrate on all his other years as a hero.

Over the course of Secret Empire, we've seen Stevil Rogers toy and play with the heroes of the Marvel Universe -- from corrupting the Avengers, to wielding Mjolnir for his own. In his rise to dictatorship Steve has done all he can to twist his old life into a tool of Hydra... and now he's planning to do it with the return of very familiar face.

Today sees the release of the second chapter of Marvel's Secret Empire, the event series that has seen Steve Rogers fall from one of Earth's mightiest heroes to the leader of a fascist, totalitarian Hydra ruling over the United States. Except the issue also hurls a wrench into the works that throws into question over a year's worth of Marvel's comic stories.

The die is cast. After months of working covertly to bring his plans as an Agent of Hydra to fruition, Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, has made his first big step toward the incoming Secret Empire event. And even though we've been waiting for this to happen, it's a pretty surprising move nonetheless.

When Steve Rogers makes his allegiance to Hydra public at the start of Secret Empire, the superhero community is naturally going to be pretty shocked. But before he can enact his crazy plan to rule the Earth, Natasha Romanov is going to try and stop him, and she's recruiting a few friends to help her resistance.

Ever since Marvel started teasing it, we've long suspected that its upcoming Secret Empire event would be about Steve Rogers' revelation to the wider Marvel world that he is secretly one of Hydra's masterminds, and is trying to take over the Earth. Well, thanks to America's ABC News, we know it's going to be exactly about that.

Riding a wave of elite-targeting anger and general populism to an unprecedented level of power in order to break down the establishment and give the people security and order is beginning to become en vogue. Last week, we had the inauguration of Donald Trump. This week, we have Steve Rogers with echoes of the same.

Strap yourselves in, folks. Civil War II may have barely just ended, Inhumans vs X-Men may have only just begun, and Monsters Unleashed might be on the way, but Marvel is already teasing a major new arc -- and it seems like it's going to be focusing around a certain evil Captain America.

If you've been following the long saga of Steve Rogers, you'll know that this year he returned to superpowered heroism as the current second Captain America. You'll also know that he came back with some... intriguing quirks, like, for example, being a secret brainwashed Hydra agent. That would be bad enough, but now he's become a loopy supervillain, and it's amazing.

Yesterday, articles went up all over the nerd internet focused on the revelation of the original Captain America's sudden and controversial status quo shift. But don't let the "I told you so" chorus drown out one crucial fact: The what of this big change is far less important than the why.

It's All-New, All-Different Marvel! It's the All-New, All-Different adventures of Steve Rogers, back in action today as Captain America! And Steve has an All-New, All-Different gimmick to his history that will change the Marvel Universe forever... if by forever you mean a few months or so, although you wouldn't know it by the way everyone is freaking out.